The development of residential homes and buildings in areas susceptible to wild fires is increasing over time. The homes located in the areas susceptible to wild fires are often wood frame structures with exteriors that have combustible materials. As the quantity and the quality of the homes in the wild fire areas increase, so will the cost of devastation increase when the random wild fire consumes the homes.
Measures have been employed to protect and prevent undue fire damage to the homes susceptible to wild fire. The landscaping in proximity to the house is kept clear of combustible materials. The exterior surfaces of the house are constructed of fire retardant material. Forests are cleared of excessive fuel for fire, such as deadwood and undergrowth. Forest managers plan and perform controlled burns in the forests to minimize the fuel sources for the large and uncontrolled wild fire.
Attempts have been made to apply fire suppressant to houses and buildings in the event of wild fire. Certain fire suppressants comprise man-made materials that are manually sprayed on the exterior of the house in attempt to protect the house from flying embers blown ahead of the wild fire. The fire suppressants are effective at protecting the houses from the onslaught of burning embers and other combustibles.
The prior art has relied on fire teams that manually operate water tankers equipped with foam spraying equipment. The foam is typically a water and soap mixture that creates foam, i.e., a highly dense bubble composition that can be applied to the exterior of the house. The foam is wet and prevents the flow of air over the exterior of the house. The foam suppresses the fire by lowering the temperature of combustion and suffocating the air supply for the fire on the house exterior. The fire teams manually apply the foam to the structure.
However, when the wild fire approaches a house being foamed, the fire teams must cease the manual foam application when the wild fire reaches a certain distance, and retreat to safety. The risk of loss of life far outweighs the need to protect the property. As a result of the cessation of the foam application, the foam runs off the sloped surfaces and dries. The foam eventually becomes ineffective at fire suppression. Ultimately, the abandoned structure can be ignited and lost to the fire.
The unpredictability of the wild fire further diminishes the effectiveness of the manual application of the fire suppressant. The manual fire teams are reluctant to venture into remote areas having limited roads for escape in the event the wild fire changes direction and endangers the fire teams. The fire teams may not have adequate knowledge of the wild fire location, speed and direction. Thus, the fire team's ability to anticipate where to locate and apply the fire suppressant is limited. Since the fire teams must be cautious and have limited means of escape or avoidance of the wild fire, the use of the manual fire suppressant application systems of the prior art are limited and sometimes ineffective.
What is needed in the art is a portable and deployable automatic foam fire suppressant system.